1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an arrangement for sealing without contact a gap between a separating means and a work roll in the runout of a roll stand.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the runout of rolling mills, the quality of a strip is decisively influenced by the dryness and cleanliness of the strip surface. At the present time, very different types of blowing-off means, separating means and/or drawing-off means and combinations thereof are used in actual practice. However, a satisfactory solution has not yet been found. The reason for this is that when blowing-off means are used, air is backed up closely following the last work roll which causes moisture in the form of drops and/or other particles to drop back onto the strip and, thus, to reduce the strip quality.
In order to overcome the resulting difficulties, combinations of blowing-off means and drawing-off means have already been used in the area of a rolling mill runout. However, these combinations have other disadvantages because, for example, such combinations are very complicated and expensive and, thus, not economical because of the large quantities of air which have to be conveyed under pressure or negative pressure. In addition, since they are designed for large quantities of air, they use up space which is urgently needed for other units. When, for overcoming this difficulty, blowing-off means or combinations of blowing-off means with drawing-off means are positioned further toward the runout, they lose their effectiveness with increasing distance and the moisture remains adhering to the strip.